Cinderella

Thoughts - I



Cinderella has always been a favorite fairy tale!  How the underdog overcomes and triumphs, inflates the lungs and provides conviction.  Recently, faced with the task of designing Mardi Gras masks for a fund raiser for paraplegic children, I drew upon the remnants of feelings left behind by Cinderella.   Believing in fairy tales beats complacence and apathy by a long shot, would'nt you agree?

 

Thoughts II



Security Blanket

Stepping out of our comfort zone we live life on our toes.  New places and things excite us only until we master the unknown and then, we move on…to other things that move us and intrigue us…there are a few things, people and places, that remind us of ourselves as we were in times forgotten, in a state of oblivion, in a state of vulnerability, in a state of…less than optimum and yet we want to revisit, those things and people and places that once were new to us!  That then is our security blanket. 

In the land of Hijibijbij

Sunnyside Up

CIAH

Childhood is often fantasized as a state of euphoric utopia. The following real life images have been digitized, some of them juxtaposed with popular drawings from absurd children’s literature. Absurd literature focuses on the experiences of characters in a situation where they cannot find any inherent purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless actions and events. Dwelling on the musings of a talking cat, or bubbles and balloons, petting animals are all actions that are ultimately “meaningless” yet infinitely gratifying in a child’s life. In the life of an adult the preoccupation shifts, however, a bit of playfulness and child like wonder make the experience gratifying especially since the purpose does not determine the consequence in the scheme of things!

Bubbles!

Hopes, Hereafter...

 

Fun times are times mostly, dealt in retrospect, times full of fond recollections! Was it the fun and games, or the people who surrounded us? Or was it the novelty of the experience that made the moments so special? Was it the time of innocence and asking "Why?" Or was it a time, when dreaming came naturally and we asked, "Why not?"










The hopes that we hold dear in our hearts, do they stem from what we once knew and loved or are they hopes that we dreamed up along the way and like the serpent in the garden of Eden say, "You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will..."

Zeitgeist

Imagine please, if you would, that there is a play being enacted holding its audience in mesmerized silence.  Now imagine, the entire auditorium full of people on stage and a handful sitting on numbered seats.  If you ask me weather I am political or not, I would have to scratch my head for a long while and ponder…only to think that much of my daily actions and endeavour have remained the same, except, now it has all of a sudden, become one of the voices of the people - the people who previously sat on numbered seats and watched passively and applauded when appropriate for a handful of players.  Now the roles have reversed and just like that I find myself speaking the language of the people, with a message for the people in a worldwide internet podium made by the people.  Does that make me political?

Mic Check has become a cultural symbol of Occupy Wall Street where thoughts were communicated peacefully and effectively among millions without microphones or acoustics.  The people have silently co-operated through the years while they lost their dear ones in senseless acts of some power hungry fundamentalists.  This senseless dictatorial complacence spread its stench in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and the rest of the Arab countries.  The people who waited in silence and prayed ignoring hunger and frustration stood together and made their protests heard.  The death of Mohamed Bouazizi a fruit seller might be the single most powerful image of the Zeitgeist that the entire world has now embraced! 

Controlled Substance Abuse

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/women-pregnant-girls-pressured-abortions-india/story?id=15103950 It ain't pretty, but if you would take a look at the contents of the above link? In recent years we have noticed a change in social dynamics, the internet and globalization had a large part to play in it. Despite acceptance of western values and consumerism, we have strangely adhered to some of our old social habits.  The system of dowry for instance, has made female genocide in the villages as well as among certain wealthy classes, a matter of consequence. It is perhaps pertinent to scrutinize the psychological space that we inhabit with the changes that are flourishing all around us. The woman, largely portrayed as the mother/nurturer in popular media assumes the denomination of a "giver". It may be time to redefine the concept of a “giver”. Since our expectations of a “giver” can hold only if we allow the “giver” to be in a position to “give”. Below: Controlled Substance Abuse 2011 (also included CSA module) Modified Silk screen printing combined with acrylic on canvas 30x30 inches

Modern Day Pieta

More on the concept of a "giver", although incidental.  When I found the sketch in its dusty and discolored state, rescued by my mother from one of our giant book cases, it brought back memories from high school days when 20 paise was still in circulation and perhaps fetched a little something, however small.  It was also an acceptable alms to be given to the poor beggar woman out on the streets.  It has been a while since the Reserved Bank of India stopped minting such a tiny fraction of a currency, yet the condition of a woman and a mother has remained much the same.  She now roams the streets adorned by large bill boards advertising Coca Cola and Red Bull.  Even though she remains equally illiterate, she can perhaps distinguish a Mc Donald's from KFC.  Hence, I thought I will rejuvinate the dusty forgotten sketch from my high school days to this new identity that she has assumed : )